Flora & Ulysses
#6023.88 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 1 book Status Complete 2013 Reading commitment Low Kate DiCamillo Last reviewed 2026-10-04
Overview
Kate DiCamillo's 2013 novel, her second Newbery Medal winner, follows Flora Belle Buckman, a ten-year-old self-declared cynic raised on superhero comics, and the squirrel she rescues from a runaway vacuum cleaner. Reborn by the accident, Ulysses can lift the vacuum over his head, fly, understand every word Flora says and type poetry, and a small alliance of misfits forms around him when Flora's mother decides he has to go. Told partly in comic-strip panels drawn by K. G. Campbell, it sits on the edge of fantasy: a contemporary story with one gloriously impossible element. A separate story from The Tale of Despereaux.
Comic fantasy, Urban fantasy · For Middle grade
Core Canon: Reading Order (1 work) counts toward ranking
Flora & Ulysses (2013) core · 3.88 (54,247 ratings); Full title Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures; Candlewick Press, 24 September 2013, illustrated by K. G. Campbell with comic-strip sequences. A separate story from The Tale of Despereaux.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Flora & Ulysses? Flora & Ulysses's Core Canon is 1 book.
- Is Flora & Ulysses finished? Complete (2013).
- How much reading does Flora & Ulysses take? Low reading commitment (estimated from 1 Core Canon book · ~240 pages).
- How is Flora & Ulysses ranked? #602 in this site's official ranking, based on 54,247 reader ratings across 1 Core Canon book. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #602?
Ranked #602 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 3.88 across 1 core book.
- A smaller readership (54,247 ratings), so the score carries less weight of numbers.
- Less than 0.01 behind #601, Krönikan om den femte konfluxen (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
- A single standalone novel: ranked on that one book alone.
Why explore this universe?
Rated · 1 book · Complete · 54k ratings · Ranks #602 overall
Good choice if you want a quick, low-commitment comic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
A single Core Canon work: no sequencing question to resolve.
Awards (verified)
- Newbery Medal, 2014: won: Flora & Ulysses
You might also like
Suggestions computed from what Flora & Ulysses and each of these worlds have in common on record (subgenre, audience, shape, reading commitment and score), not a documented narrative connection.
- The Haunting Urban fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 3.79
- The Little Witch Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.22
- Archer's Goon Urban fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.08
- The Tale of Despereaux Comic fantasy · Complete · Low commitment · 4.08
Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 3.88 across 54,247 ratings on 1 Core Canon book. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Canon extension: Flora & Ulysses (Kate DiCamillo) accepted 2026-10-04
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-10-04
Rule: Core Canon = Flora & Ulysses (2013) only, standalone.